"Winky Dink And You" was a CBS television children's
show that aired from 1953 to 1957. The show aired by Saturday mornings 10:30
a.m./9:30 central. It was hosted by Jack Barry, and featured the exploits of
a cartoon character named Winky Dink and his dog Woofer.
The show, created by Harry Prichett, Sr. and Ed Wyckoff, featured Barry and
his sidekick, the incompetent Mr. Bungle (Dayton Allen), introducing clips
of Winky Dink, noted for his plaid pants, tousled hair, and large eyes.

Praised by Microsoft mogul Bill Gates as "the first interactive TV show," the
show's central gimmick was the use of a "magic drawing screen", which
was a large piece of vinyl plastic which held on the television screen via
static electricity. A kit containing the screen and various Winky Dink crayons
could be purchased for 50 cents. At a climactic scene in every Winky Dink short,
Winky would arrive upon a scene which contained a connect the dot picture.
He would then prompt the children at home to complete the picture, and the
finished result would help him continue the story. Examples include drawing
a bridge to cross a river, an axe to chop down a tree, or a cage to trap a
dangerous lion. Many children would omit the Magic Screen and draw on the television
screen itself, to the annoyance of their parents.

The program was wildly successful because of its pioneering interactive marketing
scheme, and Winky Dink became one of television's most popular characters of
the 1950s.

Jack Barry, by the way, is also the guy who hosted the scandal-wridden game
show, "21" (see the 1994 movie, "Quiz Show"), and whose fall
guy, Charles Van Doren, was on from late 1956-1957.

Well, there was the one-and-only "Winky Dink" comic put
out in 1957, which was my birth year, so it always seems like stuff from
that era is carried in my genes.